Seth
by Shapur
Summary: Egypt 13th century BC, pharaoh Merneptah is reigning over a stable and prosperous country. Only will this prosper no stay for long, at the borders are foreign powers becoming a threat ready to invade. This fanfiction is based on the Belgium comic serie Papyrus by Lucien de Gieter, so all rights go to him.
1. Chapter 1

The council

Thebes the mighty capital city of the Egyptian empire. Radiating the glory and power of centuries. In the center of the city is the palace of the Pharaoh were our story starts. That day like always held the pharaoh a council with his advisers and other prominent noble men.

"Grand spymaster Isesi-Ankh gets the word", announced the grand vizier.

Isesi came forward, looking straight to the pharaoh. "O noble pharaoh Merneptah son of Ramses II I got yesterday evening word from one of my spies who had the task to keep an eye on the king of the Hittites Tudhaliya IV. He told me that the king gets more and more visits from ambassadors from Mittani and Creta, so increasingly that something must be going on but what we don't know. Next to that is the king continuously accompanied by his military advisers and generals."

Merneptah frowned his eyebrows, "hmm this is indeed not normal. Our relations with Mittani and Crete aren't very good since the death of prince Southarna and prince Minos, but I thought we settled the problems that came with the death of princess Anitta. Tudhaliya is of course a bit more ruthless than his father Hattusili, still he came here many times before the passing of his father and I never notched any shrewd resentment."

"Its of course possible that Mittani and Crete have talked him into it or he just wants to conquer Egypt" general Horonemheb said. "Although it's a very dangerous move because the Assyrians are still waiting for a moment to invade the Hittites again. Even with the support of Mittani and Crete I doubt he could overrun us, certainly because I'm sure Crete can't send many troops with that the Mycenaeans are still attacking them. The Hittites army is also still very weakened because of there former war with the Assyrians, it will be a bloody war and Assyria could take advantage of this."

"Keep in mind that we aren't completely sure that Egypt is there target", noticed Isesi, "its also possible that they want to invade the Assyrians."

But why would Crete participate with that? Certainly with the threat of the Mycenaeans? Asked Horonemheb.

The spymaster thought for a moment and then said "I'm not sure of it but possible did they get the promise from the Hittites and Mittani that they will help them in return."

"Nevertheless, what their plan is we need to know what it is and hold our troops ready for a possible attack." Merneptah stood up from his throne, "Isesi-Ankh you give me every information you get and find a way to spy there secret meetings."

Isesi bowed, "it will be done my lord."

"Horonemheb, you need to regard that the army is prepared for war and double the border guards." Horonemheb also bowed and took a step back.

"Now that's settled I think we are done for today, you can ..."

"Forgive me my lord but there is something else I and everyone else here want to discuss with you." Merneptah looked up and saw Raoeser the high priest coming forward.

"Oh what's the matter Raoeser, about what are you all talking behind my back?"

"I'm sorry for this rudeness, but it's very important."

"As you know is the men who marries your daughter the only possible successor with the fact that you don't have a son."

"And?" Asked Merneptah with an irritated look on his face.

"Well you want her to marry Papyrus, but as good as us that he was a ... fisherman. Believe me I have nothing againts Papyrus, he's a great man and I admire him very much." He looked to the others, "we all do. But we aren't sure if its recommended to make him pharaoh."

"Yes he was indeed a fisherman, but he's also chosen by the gods and the gods supported there love isn't that enough prove that he's worthy? Nevertheless, who said that my successor needs to be a man?"

Raoeser looked shocked, "a new Hatsjepsoet? Will the people accept that?"

"The mass loves them and the ones who boggle will ultimately accept it, they can't go against the will of the gods."

"I hope you're right my lord, but know we will always be on your side and our complains are only for the best."

"No problem Raoeser, you're a wise man and have advised me always very well. Now you bring this case on, its maybe time that Théti gets teachers who will educate her how to rule. She has got much experience over the years but she's far from ready. Grand vizier Nesimontoe will you make sure of this?"

The grand vizier nodded.

"Good, last thing I think it's also time my daughter and Papyrus marry. I waited for this longer than usual, after what Seth let me do I didn't wanted to force anything else on her. But now it's time, nonetheless I don't think she will make much trouble about it" laughed Merneptah.

"Do you think she will accept the load of being your successor?" Asked Nesimontoe carefully.

"Oh I'm sure she will. She's always being very adventures but also always aware of her duty. Now she is becoming an adult that adventures mentality will slowly go away. I will talk with her when she's back from the temple of Hathor where a new high priest is initiated."


	2. Chapter 2

**The masked men**

The procession marched thro the Streets of Memphis to the temple of Hathor. Cheered by the crowd who were held back by the soldiers. At the front of the procession walked Hunefer the new high priest of the temple. Next to him walked princess Théti accompanied by two guards and Papyrus.

"Is everything alright Hunefer?" asked Théti. "You look so down".

Hunefer turned his face to her. Oh, I ... it's probably nothing but I got a dream tonight about a bunch of masked people attacking us.

"Do you think that we are going to be attacked?" asked Théti with a concerned face.

"It was just a stupid dream, nothing to worry about." He putted a smile on his face.

"I hope so", she looked to the crowd. "They could be easily hiding in the mass of people."

"That won't be easy with the amount of soldiers that are here, besides, we are almost at the temple."

Finally, they arrived at the temple, two guards opened the gate for them. The Procession marched thro the pylon and got into the hypostyle courtyard.

Théti smiled over her shoulder to Papyrus with a blush on her face.

Which he answered with a grin. He didn't notice that the procession stopped which caused him to collide against one of the guards.

Théti bursted into a giggle.

"Hey Papyrus, instead of starring at the princess you should better pay some more attention." snapped the guard.

"Sorry", He said with a careful smile.

He looked around. The temple was magnificent standing the time of hundreds of years. Suddenly he saw something on the roof, but before he could identify it, it was gone as quickly as it came. "Probably a bird, but better to keep his eyes open". He looked back forward and saw that the new high priest was about to say something, but before Hunefer could open his mouth an Arrow shot into the back of one of the guards.

Papyrus looked quickly up to the roof and saw an archer with a mask of Sekhmet on spanning his bow. Before he could do something, more people with masks of different gods came running out of the temple. He took his magic sword and ran to Théti to protect her. The masked men overrun them because most of the soldiers were still outside. "What was keeping them so long", he asked. He looked to the gate and saw that someone closed it, "dammed they had them." It was a complete chaos, priests and servants running away in every direction. The masked men had even more the upper hand because their weapons seemed to be of iron in contrast to the bronze weapons of the soldiers. Only Papyrus with his magic sword could stand up against them, but even for him they were with too many. He heard Théti screaming and saw that one of the masked men had taken her. He ran to her, but before he reached her he needed to jump behind a pillar because the archer on the roof had targeted him. He looked behind the pillar and saw that the masked men were retreating further into the temple. Then he heard a loud crack and saw that the soldiers had succeeded to ram the gate open. They stormed into the square.

"Where is the princess?" asked one of them.

"They took her further into the temple. He looked to Hunefer who came out of his hiding. "Is there another exit out of the temple?" he asked to him.

"Yes, there is a secret tunnel in the naos. After the tapestry, at the end, on the wall, you will find a lever that you can pull and that will open it. Someone, probably a priest must have let them in thro that way"

Papyrus looked to the soldiers. "The half of you go with the high priest he will show you where the tunnel comes out. The rest comes with me, we are going after them." Papyrus ran to the naos followed by his group of soldiers. They were lucky, in their haste the masked men forgot to lock the door. He entered the naos and walked to the tapestry and shoved it aside. A small hole came visible, he putted his hand in it and pulled the lever that was inside of it. A sort of mechanism started to work which shoved a part of the floor away.

"Keep your weapons ready and eye's open they could try to ambush us." He dropped into the tunnel. Fast walking, but still be careful he got thru the tunnel. After a long time walking, they heard a voice shouting.

"Come on, can't you handle a girl. We need to get away now or we get them all on us."

"That damned bitch is struggling like a wild cat, she even bites almost my finger of."

"This is our change, we need to get them before they get away, the ground is going up so that means the exit isn't far away. Douse the torches and be quiet." He began to sneak forward in the direction of the voices. Because of the darkness, they didn't see them coming.

"Damn, they are already here. Get her away here as fast as possible, we will try to hold them back." The leader of the masked men drew his sword, followed by the others.

The two groups clashed into each other. Blood splashing, bones breaking, it was complete chaos. Papyrus slashed his opponents away and tried to cut a way to Théti, but was stopped by probably the leader of the group. He looked to Théti, if he couldn't get to her now she would be gone. He would never forgive this himself.

On the moment the man who held Théti was going to escape, one of the soldiers broke thro, which forced the man to defend himself. This gave Théti and opportunity to struggle out of his grip, which she did. She ran away out of the tunnel.

"No, get her back!"

The masked men tried to back off and to run after Théti. They ran outside the tunnel followed by Papyrus and the soldiers, but then were stopped because the other group soldiers where coming towards them and archers spanning their bows.

"Pull back, run for your life!", shouted the leader of the masked men boiling of anger.

The masked men ran into the small Streets followed by the soldiers.

Papyrus ran to Théti who came back to them, she jumped into his arms.

"Oh Théti, I was so scared, I nearly taught they would have taken you away."

"You saved me and they didn't succeed that's all that matters. Whoever is behind this, he will pay for it."

"Princess?"

They both looked up and saw the commander of the soldiers coming towards them.

"We followed them, but on one way of the other they seem to have been able to escape in the crowd and the small streets."

"That's disappointing now we won't know who is behind ..."

They heard someone moaning, a man came towing over the ground. It was one of the masked men, but his mask had fallen off. He was very wounded, but still alive. When he saw them, he looked afraid around. Then he took something which he dragged slowly to his mouth.

Papyrus saw what he was going to do. "Quickly hold him!"

But it was too late, a moment later the man collapsed and died.


	3. Chapter 3

**Waiting for the dark**

The doors of the palace in Memphis slammed open.

"The city gates are closed, no one gets out of the city. My men are searching the whole city, soon enough we will find them."

The guard captain racewalked to keep up with the princess.

"Maybe its better for your safety that you return to Thebes. We aren't sure where we are up against and how strong they are. As we saw today, someone has helped them inside the temple, maybe they have more allies."

"The people would see her as weak if she did that and as you say it can't be long before we get them. I think it's better we send a message to the pharaoh and wait until tomorrow to decide what we are going to do."

Horonemheb looked to Théti. "What do you think we should do princess?"

"I've been in many tough situations before, I'm sure I will survive this." She said with a smile. "Nonetheless as long as Papyrus is here", she looked at him, "I'm sure that I'm safe."

"The weapons they had, weren't they from iron?" she asked the captain.

"Yes princess, that would assume the Hittites are behind this or they have been able to get these weapons from them. But we should better wait until we know more before we draw a conclusion"

"You're right about that, it's late now I will have dinner now and afterward retire to my chambers. If you find something report it to me tomorrow.

"You can count on me my lady, I will do everything in my power to catch these criminals as fast as possible." He bowed, then turned around and walked out of the palace.

The chamber was filled with the sound of heavy breathing and moaning. Théti lay on the bed with Papyrus on her. They were kissing passionately. Papyrus released her mouth and went to her neck."Hmm, you keep getting better at this", she grinned at him.

"Well, I think that every man would lose himself in your beauty and drown into your eyes, my love."

She blushed, "well you certainly know how to flatter me."

He flipped her over so she came on top of him and started to kiss again, entering her mouth with his tongue. After a long time of passionate battling, Théti stood up with her her completely messed up and walked to her night table. She took two cups and filled them with wine. Then she walked back to the bed and gave one to Papyrus."Do you think they will try another time to kidnap you?", pulling the cup to his mouth."

"Surely but it will be much more difficult now the whole garrison is seeking for them. What me most worries is that they seem to have many allies in the city, how could they otherwise come into the temple and escape from the soldiers."

"Do you want me to guard you tonight?"

"Thank you I appreciate that", she smiled. But I don't think its necessary, I completely trust these guards and I don't want to hold you out of your sleep."

"Ok if you are sure, I'm going then, sleep well my love."

"Sleep well" She kissed him one last time on the lips before he left the chamber".

He closed the door and attempted to walk to his chamber when he saw the guards looked very sleepy. "Hey, it's no time to sleep now you need to pull full attention certainly after what happened today"

The guards almost fell when they were taken out of there dreamy state. "Sorry Papyrus I don't know what happened to me, it won't happen again." said one of them.

Papyrus nodded, "I hope so, she needs full protection after what happened today."

He turned around and walked to his chamber. When he arrived a shock came over him when he saw a guard sleeping on the ground, loudly snoring. What the hell was wrong with all these guards tonight, why were they all so tired. He pushed the guard with his feet, but he wouldn't wake up. Then he remembered what happened some years ago, "Oh no". Just then one of the servants of the princess came running towards him, "Papyrus whats happening all the guards seem to have fallen asleep ... ."

"Quick there isn't much time, get some other people, take arms and come to the chamber of the princess"

She nodded, "you can count on me."

He sprinted back to Théti's chamber.

Théti's guards were now also sleeping, he saw a man with a mantle on just going carefully into her chamber.

On his toes, he walked silently to Théti's chamber and looked inside. The man held a hand before Théti's mouth so she wouldn't scream.

Very careful he slipped into the chamber and got behind the man. He was trying to bind a cloth before her mouth when Papyrus pointed his sword against his back. "I would release her if I was you."The man didn't move and Papyrus asked himself what he was going to do when he saw Théti in panic pointing with her finger toward something after him. He looked behind him and could just in time avoid being hit by a club, swung by a man who had moved behind other one now drew his sword and came charging towards him swinging with his sword which Papyrus parade. The one with the club now tried again to hit him but Papyrus could easily cut it in two. The same moment he heard footsteps running towards the chamber, the two masked men must have also heard it because they started running towards the window. Papyrus tried to stop them but one of them took a vase and threw it towards him. This forced him to dodge aside, which give the two men time to go throw the window in the trees. He stood up and ran to the window and also jumped in the trees. After landing on the ground he looked around, but no sign of the two men ...


End file.
